Principles And Principals

by Goolbai Gunasekara

Principals in the early years of the 20th century commanded a kind of respect that was almost adulatory. And why did they do so? For one thing the well-known private schools both in Colombo and the outstations ran their schools themselves Each school was an entity with a Board of Management and was run by a Principal of its choosing. It has been an accepted fact that the schools established by British and American missionaries had excellent standards of education, albeit (and unfortunately) aimed at making Sri Lankans good little Colonials.

During my days as a Girl Guide, we still took the oath with British overtones and that was around the time we were just getting Independence. In that climate Private Schools chose their own Principals. Many of them all over the island were foreigners, mostly English, Scottish or American (as in the case of my own mother.)

Parents trusted Principals and did not dream of contradicting them. Certainly parents did not rush to rescue their offspring, the way they do now, the minute the school exerted any disciplinary action. Parents hardly allowed me (as Head of an International School) to mete out deserved punishments.

I remember a case at Asian International School when a class of 12-year olds left school for the day with their desks overturned, the floor littered with paper and left- over food. They had celebrated a friend’s birthday after class and the whole room was a total mess. The maid doing the cleaning came to me and told me it would take her an entire afternoon to bring the class back to its usual state of order.

I told her to leave the room as it was, and I locked the door. The next morning no one could get into the room and the class was milling around anxiously. They sent me worried emissaries. “Mrs. GG we can’t get into our class.” “Some idiot has locked us out…..The maid has lost the key I think.”

Their Form teacher, the maid and I had brooms, dusters and sponges ready. Before the little miscreants could have their usual classes, they had to clean every corner of that room so that it literally sparkled.

I must say the punishment was well taken. Parents were amused that their sons actually wielded brooms. But it sent a lesson to others too. Classes could not be left messy. Untidy, dusty perhaps but not dirty and smelly. No parent complained.

While I was a schoolgirl, we feared the parental fall-out far more than we feared the Principal herself. NEVER did parents take the side of us wrongdoers. They had little faith in our ability to behave with circumspection. In fact, if we had any rights as students, we did not know of them. Parents had an infinite, almost childlike trust in our Principals and Teachers and phone calls to the School’s Head trying to get us off punishments were unheard of. It was often felt that the school Principal had been quite lenient with us given the sorry state of our behaviour in general.

It is with considerable alarm that anyone involved in Education reads the daily papers these days. Principals of outstation school are being interdicted, assaulted, arrested and even remanded for all sorts of ‘crimes’ ranging from abuse of power to rape. One must wonder, therefore, how these Principals get to such high office if so, clearly unsuited for the responsibility of running a school. How are they chosen?

All Government school Principals are selected by the Department of Education I suppose. I have been told that the process of selection does not depend on ‘suitability’ and ‘capability’ and definitely not on reputation. Principals get to run schools if they have been teachers long enough and have somehow been classified as being in the A Grade.

Schools have no say in the matter and once Principals are put in place, they have very little real authority. That resides in the Department of Education.

For instance, I must wonder what control can a Principal exert over teachers under him when he does not have the right to either hire or fire them? A really bad teacher cannot even be fired by the Department of Education unless he/she has broken the law or has done something so reprehensible there is public castigation.

This happens oftener than it should. Papers again are full of stories of child abuse by those who actually have no talent for teaching but are there at the will and pleasure of a Department in Colombo.

Coming back to Principals – is there any training for these Government posts or is the policy to keep them in office until retirement age deems it necessary? Is there no better way, to ensure that our children do not have a fairer deal than what they now receive? (I am speaking mainly of out- station schools).

My own suggestion has been that parents could be given a greater say in school affairs. Perhaps they should interview prospective Principals who are now arbitrarily foisted on them and see whether the candidate is suitable or not for their school. Parents are well able to judge, and I feel a certain input from them would be very useful to all concerned.

Principals could also be given a greater say in how curriculums are taught. I believe it is now done on a day by day ordering by the Department of Education. Principals cannot deviate from this. They cannot make use of any innovative methods they may have. They cannot introduce anything new into the daily routine. In short, they might as well be automata.

I recall that about 12 years ago a Principal was severely reprimanded because he had allowed Drill periods at a time which was not officially laid down. Such stifling of initiative does not bode well for the education of our children.

Sri Lanka has just lost a great educationist. Dr. Ralph Alles had vision and imagination and he put both to brilliant use. I was privileged to have worked with him on several projects in his schools and through sheer force of personality he was able to found D.S. Senanayake College and turn this new school into one of the best in Colombo.

Parents of that school will never forget that he was dismissed for his pains on a technicality! You can see what I mean about Principals not being encouraged to show versatility or to have any visionary ideas. He later built his own school that is today a roaring success. He also won the case against his unfair dismissal.

To be a successful Principal requires so much more than simply being an A Grade teacher in Government service. It is time the Government took serious notice of the type of person to whom they are handing out these positions of control especially when they are dealing with the youngsters of our country.

(Excerpted from The ‘Principal’ Factor first published in Lanka Market Digest)